BATON ROUGE – Senior Zach Mettenberger threw for 236 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead the White team, which was comprised mainly of starters, to a 37-0 win over the Purple here Saturday before 28,000 fans in Tiger Stadium in LSU’s National L-Club Spring Game presented by Tony Chachere’s.

Mettenberger, who played just the first half, completed 12-of-19 passes in leading the White to a 16-0 halftime advantage. Backup Stephen Rivers played the entire second half, which featured a running clock, at quarterback and turned in perhaps his best performance in a scrimmage since joining the Tigers by connecting on 7-of-10 passes for 185 yards and two scores.

“Anytime that you finish spring with a game style of event, it doesn’t necessarily show off everything you can do offensively, defensively or on special teams for that matter,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “You’re playing with a team that is divided, and certainly there is some production you can get. You’re not necessarily trying to have the kind of days to win championships. You just need to be productive. Today was that kind of day. Defense played well. We played one front and one coverage and tackled well and played how they’re supposed to.”

“Offensively, I think we handled the ball well. We rushed it well. Again, it’s more of the statistics against the second team defense. Still, guys that needed to catch the ball did, and guys that needed to throw it did improve. The key statistics today is that we are not coming away with injury. It didn’t appear to me that anyone got hurt, so we go into the summer season with a lot to improve on.”

Other standouts for the White offense were Odell Beckham Jr. with six catches for 202 yards and a pair of touchdowns, Jarvis Landry with six receptions for 132 yards and Jeremy Hill with 102 yards rushing on 13 carries.

Beckham Jr. scored on a 79-yard pass from Mettenberger in the second quarter and then closed out the scoring on a 21-yard reception from Rivers late in the fourth quarter. Redshirt freshman Travin Dural hauled in a 45-yard TD pass from Rivers early in the third quarter to give the White squad a 23-0 advantage.

The Purple team, which was comprised of second and third-teamers, was led by quarterback Anthony Jennings, who threw for 98 yards and added another 26 yards on the ground. Hayden Rettig and Brad Kragthorpe each took snaps at quarterback for the Purple squad.

Terrence Magee saw action for both teams and finished with a total of 73 rushing yards, including a 47-yard run, on nine carries.

“We probably did not play five starters at some point in time in today’s game on offense, defense and special teams,” Miles said. “When this team reconvenes in June, with a real quality freshman class --four defensive ends, two defensive tackles and a secondary-- some real quality additions that I think when we reconfigure this team, it should be a really strong team. There’s a lot to build on. Certainly a great challenge to start a summer season. It’s certainly one to finish the academic semester. When you get to the summer, recognize that we have a real quality opponent to start the season and we will look forward to playing TCU.”

LSU opens the 2013 season on August 31 against TCU in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Opening statement …“Anytime that you finish spring with a game style of event, it doesn’t necessarily show off everything you can do offensively, defensively or on special teams for that matter. You’re playing with a team that’s divided, and certainly there is some production you can get. You’re not necessarily trying to have the kind of days to win championships. You just need to be productive. Today was that kind of day. Defense played well. We played one front and one coverage and tackled well and played how they’re supposed to. Danielle Hunter had a nice day. Anthony Johnson, Lamin Barrow and Craig) Loston looked like the first team defense.

“Offensively, I think we handled the ball well. We rushed it well. Again, it’s more of the statistics against the second team defense. Still, guys that needed to catch the ball did, and guys that needed to throw it did improve. The key statistics today is that we are not coming away with injury. It didn’t appear to me that anyone got hurt, so we go into the summer season with a lot to improve on. We probably did not play five starters at some point in time in today’s game on offense, defense and special teams. When this team reconvenes in June, with a real quality freshman class --four defensive ends, two defensive tackles and a secondary-- some real quality additions that I think when we reconfigure this team, it should be a really strong team. There’s a lot to build on. Certainly a great challenge to start a summer season. It’s certainly one to finish the academic semester. When you get to the summer, recognize that we have a real quality opponent to start the season and we will look forward to playing TCU.”

On Cam Cameron working with the offense …“It’s not the complete keys and the controls as much as it is an exercise that allows you to see what the quarterback thinks. How he sees the game plan, what he would call and how he would operate things. It was a tremendous exercise. It’s one that improved the quarterbacks. It fills in for a younger quarterback or an older quarterback, some of the things they need to have accomplished before they go into the game plan. I think it was good for all of the quarterbacks. I think Anthony Jennings took time with it, and considering that he was put with first team defense against second team offense, he did it with poise and planning.”

LSU DEFENSIVE PLAYER QUOTES

SAFETY CRAIG LOSTON

On the play of the defense…“With the guys we got in the front, no matter what quarterback we are playing, you have about three seconds to get the ball out and that’s what we try to accomplish. We make sure to take care of our jobs. If each of us does our job individually, then we will get the play we want.”

LINEBACKER LAMIN BARROW

On where he thinks he will play in the Fall…“I came in as a freshmen to be a linebacker, so I am going to be cross training for that, but I’m ready to play wherever I am placed.”

DEFENSIVE TACKLE EGO FERGUSON

On his performance today…“A lot of people said that we couldn’t do it and that we were a lot thinner of a defensive line since we lost a few people. I had the mindset that I wanted to prove a lot today. I feel like every day I need to get better. I’m going to go watch some film and see where I made mistakes and how I can improve.”

On Defensive Tackle Anthony Johnson…“I feel like we are going to be the best duo in the country this year. I feel like if we keep pushing each other, then the sky is the limit for us.”

On the new defensive ends coming in…“I have seen a lot of athleticism from them. People say that we have lost a lot in our defense, but we have a lot of speed and young guys stepping in and picking it up for us.”

On calling his own plays…“It was tough out there. Coach (Cam) Cameron allowed us to call our own plays and it was the first time I’ve ever done that. It was kind of a slow start to get going, but we turned it around and had a pretty good day.”

On why he was allowed to call the plays…“He just wanted to see what our thought process was. I think we’ve all impressed him since he’s been here. He knows we know our own plays. He wanted to see down and distance where our head was. I think we all managed the game pretty well.”

On his performance…“I did okay. There were a couple of throws that I missed. I’ll have to work with the receivers this summer, but overall this Spring was good and we have to keep going from here.”

On the early struggles…“I was just trying to get going and find my rhythm, but all of that is correctable and we’ll be ready this season.”

On the slow start…“We got off to a slow start, but Zach (Mettenberger), Jarvis (Landry) and I got together and talked about how we were going to slow it down and pick it up. We just ended up turning it around.”

On developing a chemistry with Zach…“We were all backups at one point and we built a chemistry and bond. Everything is clicking right now. We have to keep improving.”